A study on Thailand and its positioning in the 21st century world order: the case for hedging strategy

The rapid changes of the 21st Century power transition, especially the Sino-US strategic rivalry in the Indo-Pacific, raises some theoretical and empirical questions that inevitably challenge not only the international system but also Thailand as an aspiring middle state. The study illustrates how and in what ways the Thai government under General Prayut Chan-o-cha, from 2014 to the present, has pursued the hedging strategy, which makes Thailand successfully survive in the Sino-US geopolitical competition.Nevertheless, this study examines various approaches such as risk management under hedging, system structure, and state behavior in order to explain the behavior of Thailand’s foreign policy in the changing world order and to understand its position as an aspiring middle power as well as the options that the Prayut government selected to manage the great power competition.The study argues that Thailand’s approach to foreign policy under Prayuth is that of hedging in an attempt to become constructive player on the international platform and survival state amidst the world order transition. It results in the committed engagement to both major powers while maintaining its posture as a regional norm setter among its neighboring countries and its own internal independence, thereby following its own region-based foreign policy.